{"id":216979,"date":"2025-06-02T14:09:37","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T00:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=216979"},"modified":"2025-06-02T14:09:37","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T00:09:37","slug":"climate-research-around-pacific-falls-victim-to-federal-grant-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/06\/02\/climate-research-around-pacific-falls-victim-to-federal-grant-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate research around Pacific falls victim to federal grant loss"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"SOEST
SOEST research team at a workshop in Palau.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A three-year effort to support Pacific Island communities with climate data for resilience planning has been upended by the termination of a grant overseen by the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The grant was terminated on May 15, with about $175,000 of the original $456,000 remaining unspent. It funded two primary objectives: providing climate and weather research to Pacific Island communities, and integrating the results and data into a web-based dashboard, maintained by Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Green Growth<\/a>, an affiliate at the East-West Center<\/a>. Initial integration into the dashboards had begun when the grant was ended.<\/p>\n

The project was part of a collaboration with NOAA<\/abbr> and other local partners in the Island-Led Resilience 2030 initiative, which is an extension of a broader United Nations\u2019 effort to implement sustainable development goals through place-based action.<\/p>\n

“The idea was that my team would provide the science behind some of the issues surrounding climate change,” said James Potemra, the project\u2019s principal investigator. “Then, Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Green Growth would add this to the sustainability development goal dashboards.”<\/p>\n

Impact on Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and the Pacific<\/h2>\n

Potemra and his team conducted scientific studies into the environment and climate of the Pacific and provided their findings to stakeholders, such as local governments, for further action.<\/p>\n

The project aimed to expand research to Pacific Islands beyond Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, starting with the Republic of Palau and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.<\/p>\n

\"Poster
Poster of climate strategies in climate workshop in Palau.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The funding cancellation put an end to the team\u2019s climate research and forced them to pull out of their international partnerships.<\/p>\n

“We spent a lot of time going out to Palau, and we were promoting what we were doing,” Potemra said. “Now, unfortunately, we have to say, thanks for giving us the input, but we can’t do anything anymore.”<\/p>\n

Future steps<\/h2>\n

In an effort to avoid any major staffing changes, Potemra said he is leveraging other SOEST<\/abbr> grants to fund the three staff members that were working on Pacific climate research before the grant was terminated.<\/p>\n

Potemra also said he is looking into alternative funding sources, such as the United Nations\u2019 Green Climate Fund<\/a>, to continue his work in the Pacific.<\/p>\n

“The hope is the UN<\/abbr> will renew that to address another group of islands,” Potemra said. “And if that’s true, then we’ll be very aggressive about getting more funding and going to different places out in the Pacific.”<\/p>\n

Still, Potemra acknowledged that finding a full funding replacement is a challenge.<\/p>\n

“It’s really a herculean task at this point,” he said.<\/p>\n

Read more on UH<\/abbr>\u2019s response to federal policy changes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

— By Grant Nakasone<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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